Bake of the Month - March - Mother's Day Cake

This month’s bake is one for Dads. Well, Dads and their kids. It’s got everything a mum wants for Mother’s Day (cake and chocolate) and it appeals to kids too (cake and chocolate). The idea is that dad and the kids make this while mum has a well deserved rest. Most of all it looks good, tastes good and is easy to make. Please bear in mind this is about a two hour job start to finish. A lot of that is ‘waiting’ time which can of course be filled with cleaning the house, and /or foot rubs. Hmmm, I wonder if my husband will read this.

Ingredients:

•          Caster Sugar: 150g
•          Butter (softened): 100g
•          Vanilla Pod
•          Eggs: 2
•          Plain flour: 200g
•          Baking Powder: 3 teaspoons
•          Vanilla Extract: 1 teaspoon
•          Desiccated Coconut: 100g
•          Double Cream: 100ml
•          White Chocolate: 200g
•          Raspberries: 1 punnet
•          Dark Chocolate or Milk Chocolate: 50g

Method:

Make sure the butter is out of the fridge for a while beforehand so it’s soft. Put butter and sugar together in a bowl. Take vanilla pod and cut in half. Cut in half again, lengthways this time and put the rest away for another time. Scrape out the seeds into the butter and sugar.

Cream the butter and sugar together, use an electric whisk if you have one. Kids love to use them and it makes life easier. Crack in one egg at a time and beat into the mixture. Sift in the flour and baking powder and put in your teaspoon of vanilla extract. Beat in again. Give the kids a beater to lick and put the mixture in your choice of tin. I always use a loaf tin as it’s one of those silicon ones that make it really easy to get the cake 

out.

 

Put in the oven for about 45 mins of 180C or gas 6. If you’ve got a fan oven it’ll take about 5 mins less. Meanwhile make the white chocolate ganache

Break up the white chocolate into small pieces and boil the cream in a pan. As soon as it boils take off the heat and chuck in all the chocolate. Mix it like mad till all the chocolate has melted and put in the fridge.

Once the cake is out, put on a cooling rack and leave to completely cool. Your ganache should be OK by then, pourable but very thick and sticky. Pour all over the cake and then put the raspberries on the top. If loads of ganache has run off then spoon it over again. It’s meant to look messy! Melt the dark chocolate in a bowl over some hot water and drizzle over the top of the cake.

 

Make sure you (or the kids) do the washing up too. Voila. One happy Mum.